HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT I HAVE FOUND MY TRUE PATH?


An Answer...
    (or...   How I Knew)
                                     By...
                                                       Hurn

  Greetings, again, to ye who read  this.   Know  Ye that, contained within
this text, exists An Answer to  a  common  Question.   This Answer came, as
such Answers are wont, during the  Early  Hours of the Morning, whilst this
Author  was  engaged  in  contemplation  of  certain  Matters  of Spiritual
Concern.

  WARNING!  LET IT BE KNOWN THAT...
    
    1. This Answer is not claimed by its Author to Apply to Everyone...
         (In fact, it probably applies to but a small minority of people.)
    2. This Author is NOT, nor does he claim to be, infallible.
         (He has erred before, and will, most probably, err again.)
                (Hopefully, not the same mistake twice.)

  And so, with the above warnings fully understood, let us proceed...
First, the Question, next, Answers which this Author has heard, and lastly,
this Author's Answer.


The Question:
               HOW CAN I BE SURE THAT I HAVE FOUND MY TRUE PATH?

    [nb. This Question may appear in different guises... (eg. How do I know
that I have found my real  religion?  ,  How  do  I know that I am Right? ,
ect..) ]

Old Answers:

    1. If I have to ask, then it must not be the True Path.
        (A sarcastic Mystical Response)
    2. Because God Told Me So!
        (A "True Believer" in a "Personal"-Type Religion)
    3. Because I have Faith.
        (Another "True Believer")
    4. The Bible tells me so.
        (Trusts Bible more than Self)
    5. "Everyone else" believes this, so it must be right.
        (A Sheep, with the Herd Instinct in full effect)
    6. My Conscience/Heart/Inner Self/ect. tells me so.
        (Good Answer! But how many are Really "in tune" with themselves?)
    7. Because this is where I  feel  most  comfortable,  and it's "where I
        belong".
        (Another "good answer", but again, not totally conclusive.)
    8. I have "seen the Light", and will  "change  my ways", striving to do
        only that which is good.
        (Yet another "Good Answer",  but,  after  having  changed your mind
         once, who's to say you won't change it again?)

      And so on...

 Thus, while puzzling over the above Answers,  and looking at past lives of
others, the following theme  was  noticed:  It  seems that those who really
think that they have found  their  True  Path,  tend  to devote the rest of
their lives to living in  accordance  with  the  way  that they have found.
Keeping this in  mind,  your  humble  author  set  out  to  examine his own
lifestyle, to see if he  had,  indeed,  altered  his mode of living to that
which would be proscribed by the Path that he had chosen.  To this Author's
surprise, he discovered that he had  ALREADY  been living by the said rules
of his way for a number of years prior to and during the search/choice of a
Path.  

New Answer:

            If the shoe fits, to the extent that one  has been wearing that
shoe for years and never even realized it, then Keep On Wearing It.

                                            Blessed Be...
                                                            Hurn.